Students give teachers electricity lesson at IS 52, Manhattan

Plenty of energy

Miller Photography A sixth-grader explains some of the project findings as other presenters wait their turn.

At the IS 52 faculty meeting on May 2, teachers got a lesson from students on how much electricity was being used by the electric appliances in the school and how much money was being wasted. Sixth-, 7th- and 8th-grade members of the Manhattan school’s Environmental Club gave a PowerPoint presentation based on their findings as part of a two-year Inter-School Energy Research project headed by Columbia University’s Center for Environmental Research and Conservation with the participation of Think Eco and Junior Energy and funded by a National Science Foundation grant. Using a Modlet, a new product designed by Think Eco, students from five Manhattan public middle schools were able to determine how much electricity was being used by school appliances in “standby” mode and at what cost. They met Saturdays and after school at Columbia to compare and analyze their data and brainstorm ideas about how to conserve energy at their schools. In April they presented their findings to a panel of experts and answered questions about their projects.